Reflections

Peace - A First-world Luxury. I’m typing this a few days after the whole Hamas / Israel volcano has erupted. The Holy Land has long been fought over. Far too much blood has been spilled and far too many tears have been shed. It’s important to remember that this has not suddenly happened in a...Continue reading→

Jesus, The Party Guy. One of Fr. David’s pet theories is that Jesus must have been dragged along to lots of parties when he was a child. Frequently The Teacher will use the imagery of a party to make some of his most incisive points about the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember the story about the...Continue reading→

CFA Mass for the Dundas area. Two houses We gather today to express our great gratitude for your commitment as firefighters and first responders personnel in keeping us safe, protecting and saving lives and property and helping to create a community wherein we can live as a human family.  There are so many times when...Continue reading→

Us versus them Perhaps it is just my age but I am more aware of division and argy bargy these days. Of course, as far back as Cain and Abel there has always been a polite difference of opinion and that did not end at all well. But my hope would have been that in...Continue reading→

This Bishop thing. On Sunday the 29th of October, Garry our Bishop will be with us and this will be a great joy and cause for celebration. It will also be a great reason for a party because we have no less than 4 candidates of varying ages being confirmed. There is a line of...Continue reading→

I’m reading the memoir of a lady doctor at the moment. It’s a great read and a humbling piece of work. You would have thought that our trusty medicos have got it all together, lead a charmed life with lashings of cash, a healthy marriage and 2.5 perfect children who never say naughty words and...Continue reading→

Homily  What’s a confirmation? Next Sunday Bishop Garry will be here to confirm 4 marvellous candidates and then we will retire off to the hall for a yummy ‘Bring and share’ lunch. Confirmation is not something that happens every day, so I thought I would offer up a few reflections about the sacrament before next...Continue reading→

This word ‘Awesome’ Our language is not a static thing. In my lifetime a whole new lexicon has come hurtling into our vocabulary. Words like email, algorithm, iPad and cybercrime are just a few examples. Words have also been consigned to the dustbin of inappropriateness and you can probably think of a few examples. But...Continue reading→

Meet my friend Rembrandt Rembrandt entered the world on 15 July 1606. He was a highly skilled painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. It is estimated that he produced a total of about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings, and two thousand drawings. He became famous in his lifetime and he is well known 4 centuries later. He...Continue reading→

The dress code for the wedding Today’s parable falls easily into two parts. The first part goes like this. The King has a son who is getting married and this is going to be a cause for serious celebration. Many oxen, cattle and turkeys are understandably nervous when they hear the news of the wedding....Continue reading→

Bottles of show wine The classic interpretation of this parable goes like this. It is the history story of our salvation in four, easy to understand, any idiot priest could get it. First, it looks back at Creation and the choosing of the land of Israel: “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard… put...Continue reading→

And so we came to Adventure Bay True story. There really is a delightful place on Bruny Island called Adventure Bay. The tourist spiel goes as follows. ‘There are many things to do in Adventure Bay Bruny Island such as water sports, fishing, bushwalking, scenic boat cruises and visiting the delicious raspberry farm. The caravan,...Continue reading→

Pay attention… we are connected It’s around this time of year that pet blessings abound and that we reflect, and give thanks for the life, work and witness of St. Francis. St. Francis is associated with pet blessings because he understood the connectivity of all nature which includes our relationship with every other human being....Continue reading→

The Cook and the Painter. It was one of these smulchy TV cooking shows with exotic recipes against splendid vista of an exotic country. Our master chef was chatting to a painter who did spectacular landscapes. Towards the end, when the meal had sumptuously been prepared and probably devoured by the film crew, there was...Continue reading→

Today's parable of the workers in the vineyard has much to teach us and the first thing that I want to offer is that God’s grace is not a business. It’s not transactional. I’m terribly sorry to say that God does not have an EFTPOS machine, nor does he take MasterCard, Visa or Amex. He...Continue reading→

I was prattling on about a recollection I have of the isle of Skye and the flavour of the memory was as potent and palatable as the here and now. After all my words were expended, the patient, sage gentleman eyed me carefully and completely unrehearsed and without any premeditation, offered the wise titbit for...Continue reading→

Peter’s nemesis / Our nemesis There is a curious little Q and A session at the start of today’s gospel. Peter goes to Jesus and asks ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell...Continue reading→

Pin the tail on the donkey An early childhood memory came bubbling to the surface the other day. It was a child's birthday party and we were playing the classic game of pin the tail on the donkey. You know the one where you take it in turns to be blindfolded and are then given...Continue reading→

Words and music - vehicles of resurrection. It was a simple line tucked snugly away in the middle of a paragraph, in the middle of a novel. It went something like this. ‘Words and music are instruments of resurrection.’ What the author was adroitly and succinctly saying was that there are some words and some...Continue reading→

Of Frank and Fr. Oulton Most of you will know that I once had a go at being a school chaplain. I was a spectacular disaster and after 4 long tortuous years, by very mutual consent, I wrote a pleading letter to the then Bishop of Ballarat asking if it might be possible to return...Continue reading→